1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to semiconductor integrated circuits and, more particularly, to internal voltage generation circuits and semiconductor devices including the same.
2. Related Art
In general, semiconductor devices receive a power supply voltage VDD and a ground voltage VSS from an external device to generate internal voltages used in operations of internal circuits constituting each of the semiconductor devices. The internal voltages for operating the internal circuits of the semiconductor devices may include a core voltage VCORE supplied to core regions including memory cells, a boost voltage VPP used to drive or overdrive word lines, and a back-bias voltage VBB applied to a bulk region (or a substrate) of NMOS transistors in the core region.
The core voltage VCORE may be a positive voltage which is lower than the power supply voltage VDD supplied from the external system. Thus, the core voltage VCORE may be generated by lowering the power supply voltage VDD to a certain level. In contrast, the boost voltage VPP may be higher than the power supply voltage VDD, and the back-bias voltage VBB may be a negative voltage which is lower than the ground voltage VSS. Thus, charge pump circuits may be required to generate the boost voltage VPP and the back-bias voltage VBB.